TEAM BLOG: ADVANCEMENT '13

A blog by the Next Level 2013 Advancement Team.

This blog provides the insight, in-jokes and inspiration of a team in action. Each post is by a team member as their journey continues.

In The Next Level, an "Advancement Team" is a team built of experienced athletes designed to "advance" the program. The spring 2013 Advancement Team is comprised of eight men: Tom Keon, Phil Cohen, Stephen Cyr, Seth Carbonneau, Stephen Forgione. Phil Biondo, Yarza Winn and Chris Noonan.

Each post represents only the views of it's poster, and is not intended as a reflection of the opinions, views or beliefs of any other teammate, the team as a whole or The Next Level.

Follow these men as they make their marks on a small corner of history.

In my opinion bodybuilding/physique/strength sports are the best and
most difficult sports in the world, and that's why I LOVE them so.

What is so beautiful about these sports is that they are constantly
evolving and that's because the athletes within them are always
learning and pushing forward looking for new ways to be bigger leaner
stronger and so on(at least the good ones are).

The area that has the
most questions as well as the most discussion is nutrition. No matter
how much you think you know, there is always tons more to find and
read about.

A perfect example of this happened to me Monday night
during our weekly Advancement Team meeting, we were talking about diet
and I brought up frustration about my carb sources and wanting to find
new carbs to spice up my routine. This alerted my coach Christian
Matyi to a flaw in my diet that I never knew existed, PH balance of my
foods (alkaline vs acidic).

I've dieted for years and have been
pursuing bodybuilding for the last two and have had never heard to
need for PH balance in the diet and its affect of the overall amount
of leanness I may or may not have.

That being said I am very excited
to have a new wrinkle in my diet and can't wait to see what this new
bit of knowledge will do for me and what the next flaw in my diet
turns out to be and how I'm able to grow and learn from it.

Attached is the before and after of my attempt to be more balanced and
green friendly in my diet